


Too tired to name this

by Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, Mentioned Gabriel Agreste, Mentioned Tikki, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 15:05:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13592631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan/pseuds/Shiningheart_of_ThunderClan
Summary: It's 4 am and I wrote this in two hours. Identity reveal and fluff in the first chapter. Not sure how long this will be.





	Too tired to name this

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in two hours. Forgive me if it's crappy.

This was it! This was the day Adrien had been waiting for since he was 14 years old. After years, literal YEARS of patient waiting and not so patient begging, Ladybug had finally agreed to share identities with him. The superhero duo were scheduled to meet on the roof of an abandoned building in less than ten minutes, and Adrien was starting to get antsy.

Of course, he’d be less antsy if Plagg would just finish eating already. Adrien took a deep breath (not too deep though, that camembert, woo!) to both settle his nerves and calm his rising irritation. “Plagg. Plagg, please, I am begging you. You’ve been savoring that piece of cheese for the last fifteen minutes. Which is commendable, especially from a glutton like you, who could and literally has in the past eaten bigger pieces in five seconds. Just please, hurry up? Pretty please?”

Adrien completed the groveling by getting to his knees on his bed and holding up his folded hands. It was a pathetic image, he was sure, but one he hoped would hasten his friend up. Plagg snickered, as Adrien knew he would, before gulping the chunk of camembert in one swallow. “Done! Come on, lover boy, chop chop! So rude, making me wa-”

“CLAWS OUT.”

“-AAAIT.”

‘Serves him right’ Adrien thought maliciously, even as he went through his transformation. Even now, the rush of magic brought an exhilaration to him that little else could. Besides being by his Lady’s side, that is! With that thought, Chat Noir opened a window and vaulted away to meet his partner.

\- - -

Ladybug shifted her weight back and forth on her feet, swinging her arms idly. Nervous energy had her unable to stand still. Not that she was regretting her decision to finally let Chat see her. It had taken some time to convince Tikki that this was right and to let her do this.

Rather, she was afraid. Not of Chat’s reaction to her being Marinette. Over the years they’d cultivated a casual friendship, Chat and Marinette. She fed him, he made her laugh, it was a mutually beneficial friendship, and one she wouldn't give up for the world.

But in a way, she WAS giving that up. It wasn't that she was afraid of Chat rejecting Marinette, it was that this would change… well, everything. That was her true fear. His Lady and his Princess, one and the same. How would it throw off their dynamic, when they revealed themselves? Would Ladybug be able to stand the very real idea of the boy behind the mask taking hits for her? Being thrown into buildings? Being tossed into the river? Being turned against her?

Ladybug shuddered violently at the thought, enough that she didn't hear the familiar thump thump of boots hitting the roof behind her. “Chilly, My Lady?” A smile came to her face even as she turned, and there he was. Her silly partner, boyish grin and playful green eyes. “I am one hundred and ten purr-cent willing to warm you up, should you require it.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and Ladybug found herself laughing. His flirtations had long since stopped bothering her, and had even become so much a part of their routine that she couldn't picture him without them.

When she came back to herself, Chat’s grin had softened, and so had the look in his eyes. It made her heart speed up, just a tiny bit. “S-so,” she stammered, silently cursing herself for that ridiculous habit that she had hoped would never resurface after she had stopped pining for Adrien, “how do you want to do this? Eyes closed, one to three, go?”

Chat shrugged lazily, hands behind his head in a casual pose. “If that would make you comfortable, my lady. You’re still sure you want to do this? You can still say no, and I won't mind. I’ve waited this long, I don’t mind waiting longer.” 

He would wait forever for her. Ladybug already knew it. She smiled sweetly and shook her head back at him. “I still want to do this. I’m more sure now than ever. You're my best friend, Chat, and I trust you with my life. I think it’s time that I trust you with BOTH of my lives.” She and Chat smiled at each other for a few more moments before simultaneously shutting their eyes. “One.”

“Two.”

“Three. Claws in!”

“Spots off!”

The air was filled with pink and green light. Marinette took a single breath and opened her eyes to find familiar green ones staring back at her, just as wide as her own. “... Marinette?”

“Adrien?” Marinette’s brain came to a screeching halt. It shouldn't make so much sense. Chat Noir and Adrien were as different as night and day! Chat Noir was a flirt, always had been, and Adrien had always been a gentleman! Well, not that Chat wasn’t a gentleman. And their senses of humor was the same, terrible puns and all, and they were both so kind and caring and compassionate in their own ways. She knew Adrien volunteered at the local animal shelter, and she had seen Chat with the akuma victims after battles. 

But if Chat and Adrien were one and the same, then… Then that meant… “Princess, whatever you’re thinking, either get over it or say it out loud. You’re scaring my kitten.”

The nasally voice of the black cat kwami brought Marinette back to herself for the second time that night, and she took a moment to really look at her friend. Adrien had gone pale, and looked about ten seconds from bolting in the other direction. Too late, she realized how her silence might have been taken. “Adrien.” He gulped noisily at the tone of voice she’d adopted but nodded shakily to show he was listening. “I’m going to dangle your father from the Pont des Arts and dropkick him into the Seine.”

The unexpected proclamation did it’s job. Adrien blinked once, twice, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. It was similar to the laugh from that moment in the rain, when his umbrella had closed on her, and it filled her with warmth now as it had back then. It took Adrien a couple of minutes to calm down enough to speak to her, and his eyes glittered with mirth. “Was that what took you so long to respond? Jesus, Mari, you scared the crap out of me. I thought you were disappointed in me!”

Marinette stared at him for longer than she normally would have. Slowly, slow enough to broadcast her intentions and give him time to back away, she reached for him. She gently put her hands on his cheeks, cradling his face like one would handle something precious. Then she smushed his face together until his lips were comically pushed out and his nose was scrunched up. “Kitty, I need you to listen to me very, very carefully. Inside the mask or out of it, I will never, EVER, be disappointed in you. You are one of the kindest, most selfless people I have ever met, and I am both proud of you and proud to know you. Do I make myself clear?”

She let him go and waited for him to respond, but he took so long to answer Marinette wondered if she’d broken him. When he spoke again, it was in a whisper that was so wobbly if broke her heart. “You… You’re proud of me?”

Disbelief filled her and was quickly followed by seething rage. “Next time I see your father, I am going to deck him. I don't care how much power he has or if he can blacklist me from so much as buying buttons at a grocery store, I will break his fucking nose.” This laugh was more strained than the last but was still as genuine. “Yes, Adrien, I’m proud of you. So is Nino, so is Alya, so are all of our other friends. We don’t call you Sunshine Child because of your hair, you know?”

Adrien reached for his hair almost self-consciously, and Marinette felt a brief flash of guilt that she might have unintentionally hurt him. She grabbed his hand and brought it back down, holding it for a second longer than was necessary before letting go. “I’m sorry for scaring you. Like I said, I will never be disappointed in you. It’s more like I’m disappointed in myself.”

He loyally tried to stop what seemed to be self deprecation. “You couldn't have known. The magic made it so we wouldn’t have recognized each other. Plus I know I’m a lot different without, you know, the ears and tail and leather and stuff.”

Marinette giggled softly. “Not THAT different. Remember, kind and selfless. But no, that isn’t what I meant.” Adrien tilted his head in such a Chat Noir way that Marinette reflexively went to pet him under the chin. Luckily he responded the same way as he would suited up, or else things would have gotten awkward way fast. “It’s just… Three days ago, Adrien Agreste laughed so hard at lunch he squirted milk out of his nose.”

Adrien grimaced and held his nose like he was reliving the burn. “Don’t remind me. God, that was painful.”

Marinette smiled but wasn’t finished with her point. “That same night, Ladybug had to hold Chat Noir as he cried and reassure him that he WAS good enough and that he did deserve to be my partner.” That brought him up short. “If Chat had been hurting that entire time then ADRIEN was hurting that entire time and I hadn’t picked up on it. Even if I didn’t know you were my partner, I thought I knew you well enough to know when something was wrong. And it reminds me of all the other times Chat Noir had come to me, needing a hug and a kind word, while Adrien seemed to be perfectly fine, and… and it makes me feel terrible, that I couldn't take care of you.”

She would have gone on but was cut off by Adrien pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. Marinette didn't hesitate before wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing just as much. She pretended not to notice the minute shaking in his frame. “Thank you.” He rasped into her hair. “Thank you so much for being my friend.”

She tightened her hold on him and nuzzled into his chest in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture and not just creepy. “Any time, Kitty. Any time.”


End file.
